Atlanta Braves and the 2022 draft: who ya got?

The Walking Wounded

Noting that bit above that Cooper Hjerpe is healthy leads to the obvious follow-on question:  at the 20th slot, are there any pitchers that the Braves might be interested in taking a flier on despite having a Tommy John surgery on their résumé?

The answer is… yes.  Multiple such players… and don’t forget that Max Fried was taken in trade from the Padres despite being on the shelf with his own surgical rehab still coming.

The number 22nd-ranked player by BA is Connor Prielipp from the University of Alabama.  They projected that Connor might have had a chance to be the top overall pick if he’d been healthy.

The other problem with his projection is the lack of pitching:  202 was a covid year in college baseball and the injury came very early in his 2021 season.

In theory, Prielipp should be ready to throw again soon, but it’s clearly a tough call for many teams about whether they should jump at the chance to pick him.  In fact, BA doesn’t see him going in the entire 1st round, despite their ranking position.

Another surgical victim is RHP Dylan Lesko.  Kylie McDaniel of ESPN thinks this kid could still end up being the first pitcher drafted (which may speak of the level of position player quality as much as anything else).  BA likewise has him very well regarded.

Lesko hails from Georgia’s Buford high school and could be headed to Vandy if he isn’t drafted well enough.

The Trends

The Braves have spent their last few drafts selecting a lot of college players… and a lot of pitchers, which seems to have been a continuing tradition despite the changes in baseball operations leadership.

If you might expect any changes to those trends… at least to the pitcher preferences… that could come this year.  When picking 20th, there’s a lot of interesting players that could still be available, but until the selections come in, it’s hard to gauge where teams might go.

For sure, though:  many of the better pitchers in this class will still be around in Rounds 2 and 3.

We’ll look for rumors — such as one surfacing yesterday about the Nationals and Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada — as the next month unfolds, but the betting here is that Atlanta goes either for a premium injured pitcher or grabs the best position player athlete available at slot 20.